Julius Karpen, who was the manager for Big Brother and the Holding Company, speaks at a rally by supporters of a proposed Summer of Love concert on the steps of City Hall in San Francisco, Calif. on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017 before attending a meeting of the Recreation and Park Commission to appeal a decision to deny a 50th anniversary concert in Golden Gate Park. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle:

A City Hall rally followed by two hours of impassioned testimony that included a man on his knees begging and a sing-along to “Give Peace a Chance” failed to convince the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission that it should allow a free 50th anniversary Summer of Love concert in Golden Gate Park.

By a unanimous vote Thursday, the commission upheld a staff decision to deny promoter Boots Hughston a permit for his planned June 4 event at the Polo Field in Golden Gate Park.

Because of concerns over public safety, traffic, lack of organization and a wildly fluctuating crowd-size estimate, Hughston was advised to find a partner with more concert promotion experience and submit a new application. This almost certainly means a free concert will not happen during the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, he said.

“We’ve given them everything already, but I’m willing to do it again,” Hughston said after the vote. He promised to resubmit an application, “but I don’t see what difference that will make.”

Hughston said he has spent nine months on the event and planned to pay the $200,000 cost out of pocket. Because he had put on a 40th anniversary Summer of Love celebration in the park, he believed his permit probably would be granted and announced the concert a few weeks ago. Performers were to include Eric Burdon and War, and the original rhythm section of the Santana Blues Band.

But his permit application had not been approved, and on Feb. 7 Rec and Park sent Hughston a terse rejection letter.

Turns out the bands were no more agreeable than Rec and Park.

Michael Carabello, conga drummer with the original Santana band, read about the show in The Chronicle and called to say, “This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

On Facebook, Burdon’s wife and manager, Marianna Burdon, wrote: “This world is full of deluded characters spreading false information for their own opportunistic purposes. … Eric was never confirmed, as I declined the appearance immediately and the fact is, War was never even mentioned in our discussion.”

But Hughston had another Eric up his sleeve: Clapton. His name was bandied about, along with the Dalai Lama, at Thursday’s hearing.

The day had started with great promise. After the rain, about 100 flower children — yes, they still exist — carried placards to the steps of City Hall.

After a rally, they checked their placards at the door and proceeded to a fourth-floor hearing room. The capacity of 63 was soon met. When commission President Mark Buell asked how many planned to testify, 63 hands went up. So he set a two-minute maximum for each speaker.

“That should get us out of here by late tonight,” he said.

When advised of these rules, Brian Rohan, who described himself as a “hippie lawyer” starting with client Ken Kesey, said, “I understand what the rules are. I’ve been breaking every rule in this city for 40 years.”

But everyone calmed down and was nearly put to sleep by a long budget discussion that preceded the appeal. Many of the speakers, who overflowed into a secondary room, took their full two minutes just to give their Summer of Love credentials, though none could top Buell’s own.

Not only was he here, he said, but also his stepdaughter was born during the Summer of Love. Her name is Summer Tompkins.

One by one they lined up to vouch for the reputation of Hughston, 68, a real estate flipper living in Mill Valley who was a colleague of the late Family Dog promoter Chet Helms.

“The whole world is watching us. How can we not have a Summer of Love concert?” said Trina Robbins, 78. “The worst thing that might happen is that a bunch of senior citizens get stoned on pot.”

The thought of this reduced Ann Cohen, one of the founders of the San Francisco Oracle underground newspaper, to tears.

“We are all in our 60s and 70s,” she pleaded, “and we want to do it again one more time.”

But even tears could not stop Boots from getting the boot. Which is rare, because of the 55,000 Rec and Park permits sought each year, less than 1 percent are denied.

“The commission did not deliberate for one second,” said Kenneth Wine, attorney for Hughston. “This was a setup from the get-go.” Wine said he is advising Hughston to take the Summer of Love to Oakland.

“Whatever heart was beating in San Francisco got put to rest by the Park Commission today,” Wine said.

transplanted to California from Chicago just as myself and Ron as well – great to see Nick & Julius! Jon Hammond​http://jonhammondband.com/blog.html/breakfast_with_ron_rest_in_peace_ron_polte_manager_of_quicksilver_ace_of_cups_wild_west_fest__jon_hammond/
“Breakfast with Ron, rest in peace Ron Polte manager of Quicksilver Messenger Service – Band​, Ace of Cups, Wild West Fest – Jon Hammond”
“– RIP my friend Ron Polte – manager of Quicksilver, Ace of Cups, Wild West Fest – Jon Hammond (my band opened for Copperhead on one of the very few live gigs they played in 1972 at The Longbranch Saloon) Tam Junction and Piatti Mill Valley Restaurant – Breakfast with Ron, rest in peace Ron Polte – Jon Hammond : *Note: We had a lot of fun in the old days at 759 Harrison Street San Francisco when we shared rehearsal space with The Quicksilver Messenger Service at Bruce Hatch’s San Francisco Radical Laboratories aka SF Rad Lab in years 1968 / 1969 (not to be confused with radiation lab folks! I am still in touch with QSM guitarist Gary Duncan, sending my condolences Gary! – JH”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osterizer
Osterizer is a brand which has been used by Oster Manufacturing for its line of blenders since 1946. It is claimed to be the first mainstream brand of blender,[1] though technically the Waring blender brand was introduced in 1937.

In 1946, Oster acquired the Stevens Electric Company, which had received a patent on the liquifying blender in 1922. Oster itself was bought by Sunbeam Corporation in 1960.

Osterizer blenders tended towards heavy construction and motors. While this raised cost, many early-model Osterizers still function today, and are more powerful than a majority of contemporary consumer blenders. Oster Platinum Face 60-Minute Timer celebrated the 80th Anniversary on December 2010. – Oster

– Rudy Sheriff Lawless – Rudy was a shining light of inspiration and my go to man for council for many years – he played with more dynamics than any drummer I’ve ever played with and right up until the end he was taking his drums all around NYC on the same Kart-A-Bag wheels we all use – most generous and swinging cat…my heart goes out to Gloria and all those who loved Rudy – Rest In Peace Rudy! Sincerely, Jon Hammond

Session at Canopus Drums NAMM Show with Arno and Heinz – Photos by Lawrence Gay

Awesome photos by Lawrence Gay – Joe Berger playing in Hammond Organ USA Stand number 5104 at NAMM Show traditional Sunday Session, – we’ll all be playing Feb. 22nd Memorial bash in memory of Gregg Gronowski at Arcada Theatre – hope to see you there!http://youtube.com/jonhammondband

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JON HAMMOND
Instruments: Organ, Accordion, Piano, Guitar
Attended: Berklee College of Music 1974, City College San Francisco
Languages: English, German
*Jon is currently Host of daily CBS radio program HammondCast on KYOU & KYCY 1550AM 7 days a week.
*Performing in Hospitals, Nursing Homes & Prisons every month in addition to concerts world-wide.
*Musician: Jon Hammond is one of the premier B3 PLAYERS in the world. Jon has played professionally since age 12. Beginning as a solo accordionist, he later played Hammond B3 organ in a number of important San Francisco bands. His all original group HADES opened shows for Tower of Power, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Michael Bloomfield. Eddie Money and Barry Finnerty became musical associates.
Moving East he attended Berklee College of Music and played venues as diverse as Boston's "Combat Zone" in the striptease clubs during the '70's and the exclusive Wychmere Harbor Club in Cape Cod, where he was house organist and developed a lasting friendship with House Speaker Tip O'Neill. He also toured the Northeast and Canada with the successful show revue "Easy Living", and continued his appearances at nightclubs in Boston and New York. Subsequently Hammond lived and traveled in Europe, where he has an enthusiastic following.
*TV/Video Producer: In 1981 Jon formed BackBeat Productions. Assisted by Lori Friedman (Video by LORI), the innovative TV show "The Jon Hammond Show" became a Manhattan Cable TV favorite.